Wie plays it steady in final round

By Susanne Kemper / Special to the Star-Bulletin

EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France » There was light at the end of the tunnel. Michelle Wie saw it, kept her focus and kept her game together.

The 17-year-old mastered her nemesis -- No. 12 -- with a par and birdied the tough par-5 15th en route to a 4 over 76 in yesterday's final round of the $3 million Evian Masters. Wie finished with a 16-over 304, tying for 69th place in the 72-player field, and earning $6,626.

It was a bigger payday ($450,000) for Natalie Gulbis, who finally earned her first LPGA Tour title, getting a birdie on the first hole of a playoff against South Korea's Jeong Jang to win the tournament. The two were at 4-under 284 after regulation.

Gulbis played the front with a sizzling 33 but slipped to 37 on the back, missing some birdie putts that would have clinched after 18. Jang had a rocky start with 39 on the front but came back in 33 to force a playoff. The playoff on the par-5 saw both drive the fairway, with Jang going through the green on her second shot. Gulbis found the heart of the green and two-putted for the win.

While nowhere near the leaderboards, Wie continued to draw a large gallery, despite going off in the second group.

She pulled her opening drive left out-of-bound, setting up a double-bogey 6 on the 361-yard par-4. Three more bogeys on the front were offset by her lone birdie on the uphill par-4 fifth.

Making the turn at 40, Wie drove well on the tough 10th, making par. She followed with a bogey then recovered with a par on No.12. To the delight of the crowd, she birded No. 15.

"I was very proud of myself at the end of today, because I kept it together," Wie said. "I sat down after yesterday, asked myself why am I playing so bad? I am a better player than this. I am just playing stupidly.

"A couple of stupid errors out there daily. ... I need to use my head more and be patient with myself. I need to know my limits of my body, plus know and forgive myself that I am still recovering.

"My wrist isn't hurting as much. I have hit a lot of shots out of the rough this week and it isn't bad like before at the LPGA or the U.S. Open."

Wie heads over to Scotland this week to compete in the British Women's Open on the Old Course at St. Andrews.

"I'm very excited," she said of her first visit to the birthplace of golf. "It's really cold there, that's not so exciting, and I just hope it won't rain on us too much."